The England manager believes that he and the goalkeeping coach, Dave Watson, can piece back together Hart’s dented confidence.

Hart has come under criticism following some mistakes for Manchester City, notably failing to cut out a corner from which Fraizer Campbell scored his first for Cardiff City on Sunday. Hart was also caught out by James Morrison’s shot for Scotland at Wembley but retains Hodgson’s support.

“I’ve got every faith in Joe Hart,” Hodgson said. “When I took the job on I thought I had a top-class goalkeeper to work with and 16 months later I still think I’ve got a top-class goalkeeper to work with and I’m pretty sure he’ll still be getting the headlines for all the right reasons again.

"I’d defend him, it would take more than a couple of games before we lost faith in a guy who has been No 1 over a long period.”

Hart would have been under more pressure if Ben Foster was fit, but on Foster will miss the next three months of the season at West Bromwich Albion after breaking a bone in his foot.

“I take your point,” Hodgson conceded. “If Ben had been there, but John Ruddy is a good keeper and will put him under pressure.

"I’m rather hoping Joe will use the England time together to get his confidence restored. He will be working with people who believe in him.

“Wayne [Rooney] was happy to be part of the Scotland game to use that time to dispel a few doubts about him.

"I can only hope Joe will do the same. I will be vociferous in my support of him because he deserves it. He is a fine keeper and he will have two fantastic opportunities barring injuries to play against Moldova and Ukraine. I believe he will come out of it with flying colours.”

Hodgson was asked whether Hart might be having an issue with a foreign goalkeeping coach and whether, from his experience, they did less work on crosses and corners.

Hart worked under Massimo Battara when Roberto Mancini was manager and now with Xabier Mancisidor, Manuel Pellegrini’s goalkeeping coach.

There was even talk in the summer of Watson, who is much admired by Hart following their time at Birmingham City, helping out at the Etihad Stadium.

Emphasising that he had no inside information about the situation at City, Hodgson did say: “I do believe that keepers in particular are special breed in the sense that they become quite attached.

"I have been lucky to work with an outstanding goalkeeper coach, Mike Kelly, and that has coloured my views on thoughts on how goalkeeper coaching should look like.

"I am happy that Dave Watson has such a good relationship with Joe and Ben Foster.

“Jussi Jaaskaelainen [with whom Hodgson worked as Finland coach] was very attached with his goalkeeper coach and when moves were discussed he wanted him to move with him.

"But what do I know about goalkeeper coaching at clubs? To be frank, apart from Watson I would struggle to name a keeper coach.”

Hodgson, who has often lamented the paucity of creative options, enthused about Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend and Raheem Sterling, who are all in the senior squad.

“They do have special skills. We have some very good passers of the ball in our team. I would give you three names – [Michael] Carrick, [Frank] Lampard and [Steven] Gerrard – who I’d be prepared to say are right at the very top of European football, and many a team would love a player of that ­passing ability.

“Barkley is a player more in the realm of Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, just to name two – Theo Walcott if you want to name a third – who are capable of receiving the ball in tight areas and going past people.

"They bring a dimension we’re interested in. We think they have a great future. I would put Jonjo Shelvey in the category of the previous three, a fantastic passer of the ball.”

Shelvey is in the Under-21s with Wilfried Zaha. “We’ve got so many good ones out there.”

Hodgson dismissed the idea that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger wanted him to spare Wilshere, who has been returning from injury, from playing in both games.

“I speak to Arsène quite regularly and he’s not said anything to me about it.

"As far as I’m concerned, he fully realises that Jack is an integral and important part of the England team. We play four days apart and he expects him to play his part for England.”